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The Great War: Penetration
Penetration Once it was realized what had happened, it didn’t take long for the nations of Eirethune to react. It was difficult to put aside their differences; recent wars were still in the minds of some. This, however, was an existential threat to everything that had been built; all would be lost to savage, warlike clans who cared nothing for the fragile civilization that the nations of Eirethune had enjoyed. Kharin and Kazden Dûn The two Dwarven citadel complexes in the steppes were being besieged by a few clans of the Ûr Lords. In both cases, the clans tried a quick assault, but were forced to retreat and siege, keeping the dwarves locked down and unable to assist in any way. They did lock down their Gate Artifices that thankfully the Ûr mages were unaware of. Also, thankfully, the clans surrounding Kharin Dûn had two vulnerabilities. First, the clans guarding Kharin Dûn were from Kabendis and Grogthank Dûn, two highly competitive clans who cared little for each other. Secondly, both of the clans were a bit depleted of their mage strength because they were being used in the breakthrough the gate. The dwarves goaded the clans at their gates1, inciting their competitiveness and hatred. They also started sending out scouts and small raiding groups to attack their supplies and further upset them. It didn’t take long, nor many losses, but it was successful in facilitating the clans’ desire to assault the stronghold, no matter the cost. The defenders of Kharin Dûn took losses, but the clans were shattered. The Kharin Dûn forces even sortied to crush any attackers who did not immediately retreat. Thereafter, a good portion of the Kharin force headed south off the steppes, to try and pen up the clans present at the House of Thangku’Ur. Fighting Back the Cold In the far west, scouts had heard of the Ice Giants heading south to the shores of Frostmark. During the Ice Wrought Doom of the 25th century, the settlements and cities of Frostmark were taken by surprise and many of the cities were lost before they could group up. Since then, there were pickets that went out on to the ice to watch Icereach. The Night Giants were too far to the northeast, but the threat of the closer Ice Giants was worth keeping an eye on. After the news that Caer Ddaden was fighting on the inside and the Ûr Lords were upon the great houses, Frostmark sent out pickets to see if the giants were going to be supporting the Ûr Lords in their attack. The pickets came back with information about that two large forces of Ice Giants were descending off of the ice. During Ice Wrought Doom, one of the other difficulties was when the Night Giants joined with the Ice Giants, creating a terrible force that Frostmark could not surmount. This time King Gwin decided that they needed to attack the Ice Giants first, and before the two forces could combine. Savage one of the giant forces first and then the other; perhaps then, Frostmark could hold strong. Giants and peoples of Batch Moor and Black Dunn joined together and raced out on the ice to face the dread Ice Giant, Gjad, who had lived long and hard – known as a ruthless killer and consumer of life and warmth. He rode a mammoth that had four tusks that was larger than most manor houses in the south. Nonetheless, King Gwin and the men of Frostmark were going to take him down. Gjad swept aside many of the Frostmark warriors, giants and men alike, but they tore into him, his icy blood freezing the ice all around. The Ice Giants were slowly being broken by Frostmark and it looked as though the plan would be won; however, Horbok and his Ice Giants arrived before night fell and attacked. The pickets were not quite right about how far Horbok was from Gjad. Horbok’s arrival meant that the fatigued Frostmark army had another fresh Ice Giant force to fight. They may have defeated Gjad, but the fight with Horbok was going to be quite difficult. Into the night and through the next day the fighting continued, with dead piling up on both sides. Finally, Horbok signaled retreat, and King Gwin the same. Frostmark had kept the Ice Giants at bay, but at what cost. The forces of Frostmark returned south, and regrouped, hoping that Horbok would not be able to return to battle too quickly. Of Blood and Stone The main force of the Ûr Lords drove into Thearth, bypassing the walled cities and heading to the center to burn and destroy the rich farmland in the central plains. The clans didn’t assault any of the cities, but everything around them would be laid fallow. The Ûr Lords had faced nothing much in terms of an army, so they decided to head out and support some of the other groups. They sent a force to the west to head to Caer Ddaden, another south into Kastgor to assist with the group at Thangku’Ur, and another down into Teldor towards House Detmanth. A large force remained in the central plains and then headed down into the Bardd Plain to continue the rain of destruction. Once scouts had seen the forces break off from the main group, the lords of Balmorien moved to regroup. Lords from Thearth followed the Ûr force as it traveled into Devnah. As one of the Ûr forces moved across the Halen Hills heading towards Rhorden, the lords of the western crescent of Thearth headed straight south into Devnah. Lords of Roane moved along the Dywydeg towards Devnah to help launch a defense and an attack. The Balmoriens were still outnumbered, but at least they would attack the Ûr force from all sides. Ankor Baharg was the Ûr Lord in charge of the multi-clan ravaging force. He was taken off-guard and it took a while for him to recover from the initial shock of being attacked on all sides. However, Ankor was rooted in dark and powerful magic, with much of his guard being strong in conjuration and blood magic. From the dead rose blood elementals, capable of siphoning blood from their victims and growing stronger. These beasts of terror savaged the Balmoriens, cutting through their lines that surrounded the Ûr force. It looked as though all was lost until one of the vanguard was able to report that there was a core set of mages in the center of the Ûr army that were performing the rituals to conjure and control the blood elementals. The call went out to find someone able to reach that far into their lines with bows, but it was well beyond reach. Fortunately, the battle was close to Hae Math and inside were several trebuchets. The call went out and the trebuchets were brought closer to the battle. They then began pummeling the ritual circle of mages that were controlling the elementals. Shields went up among the Ûr, but the Balmoriens flooded penetration spells upon the stone that was being cast into the center of the army. Soon the effect of the broken ritual was felt by all. The blood elementals either dissolved right away, went wild attacking in all directions, or headed back directly to the creatures which brought them to this plane. The battle swiftly changed to chaos. The Balmoriens were caught in the fray, but they slowly retreated from the core of slaughter that was found in the center. Many of the Ûr forces were destroyed in the battle, but they were able to retreat to the west, into the Bardd Wood. The South Suffers Aside from Caer Ddaden, the number of Ûr that made it through to House Detmanth was the largest of those during the Breakthrough. When they attacked the House, they were able to lock down, bind and gate out many of the higher level defenders they encountered. Almost immediately, the forces started to poor out of the Wedyn Hills and into the Smothe. Two large forces of Ûr sprang from the mountains and headed into Aden Shahn and Teldor. As in Balmorien, the forces skirted the walled cities and stretched across the plains of the south, burning and killing as they went. The lords of Teldor heard the call from Aden Shahn about the forces coming, but they took no action to support Aden Shahn. Their distrust for the nation over the Surrin Question was now and forever part of the Teldor psyche. Lord Lahdrin called out to Teldor, Udbotsi and the Free Cities for support, but the devastation in East Smothe was horrific. He and the court of nobles decided they couldn’t wait, so they attacked the Ûr forces along the edge of the Gartre Wood , east of Niemandale. The Battle of Gartre Wood did not go as planned. It was a delaying action, and the Ûr forces changed direction, but many of the lords of Aden Shahn fell on that day. Fortunately, Crocia was being reinforced with people who had answered the call from the Free Cities and the Mote. In Teldor, the Magnate eventually readied his forces, west of the River Nant. The Ûr forces drove deep into Teldor, ravaging as they progressed. They paused as they approached the River Nant and waited. Then the remnants of the Ûr force from the Battle of Gartre Wood joined them from the south. The Battle of Great Azmunth was a terrible rout of the Teldor forces. They broke and scattered to hidden locations all over the northwest portion of the country – into Cyfail Wood and south into the Smothe. In the far south, Udbotsi heard the call, joining forces from Osebb to try and cut off any more clans that would pour out from House Detmanth. They also incorporated some of the stragglers from Detmanth into their army as they set up forces to at least prepare for a siege of Detmanth. Links Chronology of Eirethune Previous, The Great War: The Beginning Next, The Great War: Dark Blood Notes 1 The Kharin mage, Rodik Gortahn, created the Horn of Aggravated Thought which carries echoes of sentiment when spoken through. When someone speaks into the horn and wants to get a message across, the message issued is accompanied with reverberations of other similar messages, continuing for minutes at a time, aggravating the listeners with more and more of the same noise. The Horn can have a target location up to several hundred yards away, making sure the speaker and his group aren't driven mad by whatever the message is.